Chapter 35: The Old Steward In A Panic

The two paper men told Li Chaosheng in detail everything they had seen and heard.

“I see,” Li Chaosheng said.

Li Chaosheng understood what was going on now. It looked like that Du Yi was in danger, but how could that inner core be inside Du Yi?

Could there be some other facts he didn’t know that were behind this?

From the paper men’s account, Li Chaosheng confirmed several useful pieces of information: first, Ah Hong really was a big fox spirit; second, behind Ah Hong was a wolf demon; third, the wolf demon had a rift with Ah Hong and stationed a wolf at Du Yi’s gate; fourth, if Ah Hong did not extract the inner core from Du Yi’s body within two days, the wolf demon will personally come to kill and take it; fifth, the location of the wolf den had already been identified.

Now Li Chaosheng had two choices: first, take the old temple keeper and Zhou Bo to the wolf den and kill the wicked wolves. If the wolf demon was killed, both Ah Hong and Du Yi would be safe. But one thing could not be explained: how could he have confirmed the wolf den’s location? After all, he and the old temple keeper were both on watch here and they did not find it. Yet somehow when he went to take a dump, he found it?

That would arouse suspicion and might expose some of his secrets. Li Chaosheng could not tolerate that. The secrets of the Killing Scripture must be tightly guarded. No one must leak them, or even suspect them.

The second option was to find a way to both keep his secret and let the old temple keeper know that Du Yi’s family was being targeted by the wolf demon, while also protecting the young couple, and perhaps even lay an ambush at Du Yi’s house to wait for the wolf.

Once he thought it through, Li Chaosheng’s plan emerged. First, let the old temple keeper and the others discover the wolf demon themselves, so they would think themselves insightful. This would lower his profile. He only needed to be the one to cut off the wolf demon’s head at the crucial moment and claim the reward. As for credit and honor, letting the old temple keeper take most of it was acceptable.

Li Chaosheng waved his hand at the two paper figures and said, “You two go back once more. Confirm that older big wolf’s ambush position and come report to me.”

“Understood, master. Watch us,” the paper figures replied.

The little black and the little white whooshed away. The night gave the two little fellows boundless energy.

Li Chaosheng returned to the old temple keeper and squatted on the ground with him to keep watch for the wicked wolves. But Li Chaosheng knew the wolf demon had gathered the pack in the cave and was probably waiting for a chance. So Li Chaosheng found a tree root, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes to rest.

When dawn came at the fifth drum, there were still no wicked wolves on the trail. The old temple keeper was exhausted, but Zhou Bo was full of energy. That young man had great stamina and could often stay up a night or two. Li Chaosheng, however, slept soundly.

“Ah~” Li Chaosheng yawned.

Li Chaosheng stretched and said, “I tell you two, the day is already bright. The wolf probably won’t come. Why don’t we go down the mountain to get something to eat and catch another nap?”

The old temple keeper and Zhou Bo both nodded, so the three went down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, not far away, was Butcher Fan’s house. Butcher Fan had gone to the city to recuperate at Wang Er’s place. The house key was at the neighbor Mrs. Wang’s. Li Chaosheng was familiar with Mrs. Wang, so they explained their purpose. Mrs. Wang fried two eggs, prepared some salted vegetable stems, and several bowls of porridge for the three.

After the three ate their fill, Mrs. Wang gave the key to Li Chaosheng. There was nothing valuable in Butcher Fan’s house, and since Li Chaosheng had once saved Butcher Fan’s life, it was no problem for them to borrow his house to sleep for a night.

The three slept until around noon. Rubbing their eyes when they woke, they felt it would be awkward to keep freeloading at Mrs. Wang’s. Li Chaosheng said, “I say, if we stay in the mountains often, we will probably often have to borrow Du Yi’s family’s house. Du Yi treated us well yesterday, so we should not be ungrateful. Why don’t we buy some pork to give to Du Yi as a return of courtesy? What do you think?”

Zhou Bo nodded and said, “Of course.”

The old temple keeper gave Zhou Bo a look and said, “Then you pay. You were the one who ate the most enthusiastically yesterday.”

Zhou Bo said awkwardly, “You did not eat any less.”

Watching the two bicker, Li Chaosheng felt helpless. Actually, from his interaction with the young man the day before, Zhou Bo was a decent person: honest, sincere, polite, clearly from a prominent family. It was just that the old temple keeper disliked him, so he was awkward toward Zhou Bo. To borrow a line from Shen Gongbao: prejudice is like a mountain. No matter how hard you try, you will still seem annoying in others’ eyes.

“Okay, okay, stop bickering. It’s settled. Let’s go buy pork!” Li Chaosheng said.

The old temple keeper said, “Fine, then buy half a slab of pork. But it seems no household in this village raises pigs, does it?”

People could barely afford food nowadays. Only wealthy families could afford to raise pigs.

Li Chaosheng smiled and said, “That’s an easy problem to solve. This place is not far from the Zheng Family Village. Zheng the butcher’s pig farm has plenty of pigs. Let’s go buy half a head there.”

…

In the Zheng Family Village, the Zheng household was already in a state of panic. Why? The butcher, Butcher Fan was injured and could not come. Tonight the Sun family was coming to pick up twenty heads of pork. Without a butcher to take over, the Zheng family’s twenty-year reputation would be ruined.

In fact, the Zheng family had already received the news yesterday that Butcher Fan had been mauled by wolves. They sent people to check and found that Butcher Fan had gone into town to recuperate. The Zheng family sent people to the city and found Butcher Fan with bandages wrapped around his backside, unable to get out of bed, and unable to slaughter pigs.

When the news arrived, Mr. Zheng’s son, Zheng Zhuang was furious. Without their Butcher Fan, they were going to starve! In a rage, Zheng Zhuang took the knife himself and tried to slaughter a pig. He thought the pig would die after one stab, but because the rope used to tie the pig was tied poorly, the pig rose with a cry, rammed and knocked over Zheng Zhuang, then ran bleeding through the yard. A group of idle men chased it for two miles before catching it. The scene was ghastly.

With the Zheng household’s idle men and with Zheng Zhuang failing to slaughter even two pigs in a day and being injured, when his second and third wives heard of it, they refused to let Zheng Zhuang risk himself any further. They would rather ruin the family’s reputation than let their husband die in the pig yard.

Once Zheng Zhuang stopped working, the idle men likewise refused to work. Only the old steward stamped his feet in panic, his face desperate. At that moment Li Chaosheng arrived with the old temple keeper and the others.

The old steward’s eyes lit up when he saw Li Chaosheng and he rushed over. With an obviously hoarse, inflamed voice he cried, “Brother Li, help!”

Li Chaosheng saw the old steward’s state and hurriedly said, “We came to buy pork. We will not meddle in other matters.”

The old steward heard this and immediately dragged the three to the pig yard, saying, “You three want to buy pigs, right? There are plenty of pigs here. Pick whichever you like.”

Li Chaosheng smiled and said, “We only need pigs that are already slaughtered. Half a slab will be enough. We do not want a whole pig.”

The old steward’s voice grew even hoarser. “Brother Li, please do not joke with me. Butcher Fan was mauled by wolves. No one here can slaughter the pigs. I am beside myself with worry. Have mercy and help us,” he pleaded.